I hadn’t really thought about how ebooks would impact libraries. Whenever I want a book for my kindle I typically just go online, buy it, and within minutes I am reading. Whenever I want to borrow a book I still go to the library and checkout a book to have in my hands. The idea of borrowing books by using my kindle is great! I wouldn’t have to go back to the library to make a return and I could have the book when I wanted it. It seems as if the process is more of a pain than it is worth. From the articles it seems like lending ebooks should not even be an option. How do you think the issues will be fixed and do you think libraries might pull the option to lend ebooks?

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/29/153900929/libraries-grapple-with-the-downside-of-e-books

http://www.digitalbookworld.com/2012/librarian-patience-has-run-out-on-e-book-lending-issues-library-association-says/

I read an article today regarding Japan and the implement of relatively new online piracy laws. It was just made official that in Japan, anyone who possesses music or movies that were downloaded illegally can go to jail for as long as two years. This may sound like a long time, but in the United States it seems as if piracy laws are much harsher, with the maximum jail time for online piracy instead being 5 years. I wonder why piracy laws are harsher in the United States? Why is it that Japan seems to be a little less concerned with those who download things illegally?

Article: japans-new-fine-for-illegal-downloads-2-years-in-jail.html

I was reflecting upon this prompt and thinking about my upcoming mass media sociology class. In this class we talk a lot about the ways in which media both passively and actively acts on society. In a technological age we are constantly being bombarded by all sorts of media messages from the ads on the side of the page to pop ups. It is so easy to create a facebook advertisement and even target it at the exact demographic it applies to. This shows just how far removed our society has become from the hands-on manual intensive letter press. Asks a lot of questions about where our media messages come form. It is interesting to think about how the presses each had their own logo and signature. Often times the people who actually create our current media are far removed from the media we consume.

Steve Westbrook states in “Composition and Copyright” that “technological development has both presented challenges to and opened new outlets for the creation and distribution of copyrighted works”. One thing that I immediately think of after reading this statement is the creation of ebooks, which certainly do open new outlets while simultaneously presenting challenges, one of the more obvious challenges being that they do not offer what I would call a hands on approach. To me, an hands on approach means being able to actually touch and feel the letters on a page, as was exhibited in the prints done in class on Thursday. I do not think that reading an ebook allows an individual to get “hands on” with the writing being read, but rather with technology itself.

source: docDetail.action?docID=10588681

At the end of this post I have the link to the digital collection of portraits of the Marquis de Lafayette. We have discussed the importance of being able to hold and examine old books and text in person but do you think it is just as important with pictures? You can look up the pictures online and see the colors and detail but do you feel that having the work in person allows you to appreciate it more? http://digital.lafayette.edu/collections/lafayetteprints

The term hands on can be taken quite literally, a tangible object that can be held and manipulated in some form. A book or newspaper could be seen as hands-on, but with electronics I feel like this term has changed. Interactive websites and even apps on our phone allow us to be hands-on in a new way. We are capable of learning in a way that allows us to do so from the comfort of our own home and on our home time. However, is the use of technology to be hands-on on our own time and in the comfort of our own home really conducive to our learning and understanding of material?

I went onto Youtube to see if it included any videos that referenced the Copyright Act of 1710. What popped up in the search results, however, were videos with a disclaimer about the Copyright Act of 1976. I clicked on a random video to read the entire description: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE1inwUqedI

ALL RIGHTS GO TO PINK FOR HER SONG RAISE YOUR GLASS.
“Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.”

The law itself reads, “…[T]he fair use of a copyrighted work…for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (Copyright Law of the United States of America).

Although we have begun to discuss copyright in depth, I have never actually read the current copyright law in this country. After having read it, however, I better appreciate how it maintains everyone’s First Amendment Rights while protecting citizens’ intellectual property.

Howard describes a day in the life of a printer in the mid 1600s in Chapter 4, describing how early the print master wakes up in order to prepare the shop for the coming day, and how late the print master stays after the workers leave in order to tidy up the shop at night. In the book, she also describes a print-layer’s strike, where they refused to come to work because of lower wages. The print master is forced to use new hires to lay the print. When I first read this, I didn’t think it was a big deal because the laying of the print seemed to be a fun, easy job. However, after our visit to the EPI yesterday, I realized just how difficult it must have been for the print master to teach the new hires how to lay the print, and how much less efficient their inexperienced hands must have been in comparison to the veteran print-layers who were on strike. It is remarkable to think that things to which we pay no attention to today – the layout and format of our books, for example – were the esteemed work of meticulous hands. The visit to the EPI really opened my eyes into how difficult it must be to truly run a successful publication company.

The difference between a copy of an item and the item itself is huge. For example, I have a copy of the Constitution that supposedly was printed on the same press that the Constitution was printed on. However, my copy of the Constitution clearly has no more significance to the public than my copies of the textbooks I own. It is the original that has staying power, and it is the original that makes people want copies of it. The same goes for books; the original book is much, much more intriguing than the less-than-perfect copies. With old manuscripts, the original is still even more valuable, but the copies are extremely valuable as well. In seeing hand-done work, you are able to tell so much about the author or penman, and how each individual book has its own flavor to it. Even though we looked at the Nuremberg Chronicle last week, I couldn’t help but think that to see that book in person, and see all of the woodcut pictures and maps, was truly amazing. No current-day printed copy could have captured the magnificence of that book.

http://www.beloit.edu/nuremberg/inside/about/editions.htm

The trip to the EPI was a great learning experience for me; I had seen very old printing presses before in Philadelphia, while we were looking at what the Declaration of Independence was printed on, but I have never seen a rolling press, and certainly didn’t realize the amount of work that went into assembling a single paragraph, let alone page. The fact that the arranging of a simple paragraph took hours to complete is mind-boggling – how could people have printed entire newspapers daily? The labor going into such a task must have been extensive. It is also easy to understand why many newspapers folded after about a year – if a company didn’t have the capital to invest in many printing machines and workers, it would be difficult to keep up with public demand at a reasonable price.